Summer in the Systematics – Christology (Part 2): The Deity of Christ

Transcript

JRS 42
Summer in the Systematics – Christology Part 2 – “The Deity of Christ”
06/09/2024
Selected Scriptures
Jesse Randolph

Well, welcome back to church this evening. And our second installment, for 2024, in Summer in the Systematics. If you haven’t received it yet, I think these are all available in the back, back where the ushers put stuff. These are worksheets where we have our points for this evening.

Now I’m going to get us started with a quote here from Ralph Waldo Emerson, the famed American essayist, poet, philosopher who once wrote this, “Jesus is the most perfect of all men that have yet appeared.” Okay, well, I would say and you would say and most importantly, the Scripture would say that Jesus was and is perfect. But that’s not what Emerson was saying here, was he? No, he was not. He was not saying that Jesus was absolutely perfect. He was saying that Jesus was “the most perfect of all men that have yet appeared.” In other words, Emerson saw Jesus as a mere man. A very good man, a great man even, “the most perfect of all men,” to use his words, but not God. That was a belief Emerson was unwilling to hold, a statement he was unwilling to make, ground he was unwilling to yield.

And, of course, there have been many like Ralph Waldo Emerson over the centuries, of who will applaud Jesus for His miracle-working, they’ll embrace Jesus’ moral teaching, they’ll elevate Jesus on a pedestal, as Emerson did, of near-perfection. But they will end up denying the critical truth, the fundamental truth, that Jesus is God. John A.T. Robinson, for instance, said this, “Jesus never claims to be God, personally. It is, indeed, an open question whether Jesus ever claimed to be the Son of God, let alone God.” L. Harold DeWolf insists that the New Testament “stops short of an absolute and unequivocal identification of Christ with God Himself.”

Edward Bauman says, “Unfortunately, many modern Christians believe they solve the problem by stating flatly, ‘Jesus is God.’ …It must be pointed out that this statement is nowhere made by Jesus or by any writer in the New Testament.” Marcus Borg says “An older, doctrinal understanding of Christianity has ceased to be persuasive. There’s been an appetite for looking at Jesus in a way that doesn’t depend on Christian theological claims such as Jesus is the only begotten son of God.” These are sad statements. These are I would say bone-chilling statements. And ultimately soul-damning statements. Because to deny the deity of Christ, that is to deny that Jesus is God, is to deny a core truth of the Christian gospel message, which is that God sent His Son, His divine Son into this world to be a Savior who, through the shedding of His precious, divine blood, paid for the debt, for the sins of folks like you and me.

But where do statements like these come from? How does a person like Borg and the rest of them, how do very intelligent people like the ones I’ve just quoted, get to the place where they openly deny the deity of Christ? Well, they get there by embracing some form of liberal theology which at its core denies the authority and the sufficiency of God’s Word. John Witmer points this out. He notes that “liberal theology embraces and builds on a totally different doctrine of the Bible than orthodox theology. Liberals reject verbal-plenary inspiration and the orthodox concept of the dual authorship of Scripture,” this humanistic view of Scripture. That is, to view Scripture as a collection of “basically human writings” has led to a very humanistic view of Jesus Christ. And a then humanistic view toward Christology, the study of Christ. One in which the Scriptures are treated very lightly and the case for Christ’s deity, His goodness, is built, if at all, on the shoulders of His humanity.

Here’s what I mean. Donald Macleod notes, “It’s a virtual commonplace of modern Christology that we must begin with the humanity, not the divinity, of Jesus… the tide is set against a Christology ‘from above’ and is running strongly in favor of one ‘from below.’” An example of this would be Wolfhart Pannenberg, (fun name to say), he notes that, “Our starting point,” this would be somebody who built his Christology from below, “Our starting point must lie in the question about the man Jesus; only in this way can we ask about his divinity.”

But why? Is this right? Is not the question, will we or won’t we start with what the Scriptures teach about Jesus? Have we not the truths we need to know about the Word of God, Jesus, in the Word of God, the Scriptures? Surely we have what we need in the Word. That’s why I’d agree with Bruce Demarest who says here, “A responsible view of Jesus Christ… rests not on human opinion or on the current philosophical fad, but on the express teaching of Holy Scripture. Our attitude to Him is derived solely from the Word of God.” Or here’s F.F. Bruce, he says, “The belief in the deity of Christ is derived directly from statements concerning Him in the Bible. The references are so many and their meanings so plain that Christians of every shade of opinion have always regarded its affirmation as an absolute and indispensable requisite of their faith.”

And one of the clear affirmations made in Scripture is that Jesus is God. Here’s Rolland McCune, “Deity,” he says, “means being of the essence or substance of God. The deity of Christ means, therefore, that Jesus of Nazareth was and is God… Scripture specifically denotes that God took on humanity, not vice versa.” Jesus was and Jesus is the God-Man. Truly and fully human. And at the same time, truly and fully God. He’s not god-like. He’s not nearer to God than anyone else. He is God. He is perfect deity. He is absolutely equal with God the Father in His essence. Or, to use a big fancy theological word He is of equal “ontology,” essence. B.B. Warfield says, “He is declared, in the most express manner possible, to be all that God is, to possess the whole fulness of attributes which make God God.”

Well, so far I’ve quoted a bunch of theologians for you. And the promise I made you last Sunday evening is that our study of Christology would be anchored in the study of Scripture. So I’m going to make good on that promise and we’re going to get right into what the Scripture says about the fact that Jesus is God. Now, I have to warn you that if our morning sermon in Luke chapter 1:26-27 was more of a rifle shot as we honed in on two verses, this is going to be like biblical buckshot where we’re going to give a you a series of scattered Scriptures. I think I counted something like 200 slides. All pointing to the ultimate truth that Jesus is God. We could do far more slides than that and still not get to the bottom of who Jesus truly is. But we’re going to do our best here in the hour we’ve got.

So here’s how were going to lay this out this evening. And these are the blanks on your note sheets, by the way. So have your pens ready. We have 6 headings there on your worksheet. We’re going to look at CHRIST’S DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. This is all under the larger banner of the Deity of Christ. His divine attributes. HIS DIVINE ACTIONS. HIS DIVINE ASSOCIATION. Don’t worry we will come back to these. HIS DIVINE APPELLATIONS (not like the mountains), HIS DIVINE ADULATION. And HIS DIVINE AUTHORITY. I’ll say it again but I won’t go backwards on the slides. His Divine Attributes, His Divine Actions, His Divine Association, His Divine Appellations, His Divine Adulation, and His Divine Authority.

We’ll start with our first one here, Christ’s Divine Attributes. The Bible portrays Christ as possessing several different attributes or perfections which unmistakably point to the fact that He is God. And as with any study of the attributes of God, the attributes of Christ as God can really be divided up into two main categories. You have what theologians have called His metaphysical attributes. And then you have in the other category what are known as His moral attributes. Metaphysical attributes are those attributes that God shares with no one. Meaning, if they are present in Christ, then He must be God Himself because God shares these attributes with nobody. With no mere mortal. With no mere man. Moral attributes are those which are shared by Creator and creature alike.

So we’re going to start with the metaphysical attributes, the non-shared attributes, and then we will work through the moral attributes or the shared attributes. The first one we want to consider is that Christ is self-existent. The Self-Existence of Christ. One way to put this is that He, Christ, is independent from all things which are external to Himself. He depends on no one. He relies on no one. He needs no one. The Scripture, rather, testifies quite to the contrary, which is that Christ is the source of all things. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.” Acts 3:14-15 says, “you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.” So any aspect of creation that has life - people, plants, animals, etc. - they have that life because they have been infused by life by the Life Giver. Not so with Christ. He’s different. He has life in Himself. His life is not sourced in anything or anyone else. Rather, He is the very source of life. “For with You,” Psalm 36:9, “is the fountain of life”. So He’s self-existent.

Next Christ is eternal. The Eternality of Christ. We touched upon this last Sunday evening as we looked at both the preexistence and the eternality of Christ. But, by way of review and reminder, there are a few Scriptures that point to the fact that Christ is preexistent. We spent a whole hour on this last week. First, we see John the Baptist here. Though Christ was born after John the Baptist, there was a sense, as we see here, in which He was before John the Baptist. John 1:15, “John bore witness about Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, “He who comes after me has been ahead of me, for He existed before me.”’” Jesus told the Pharisees of His day that He was before Abraham. “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” We worked through that in detail last week. He existed before the world came into being. Here He is in His prayer to the Father, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” In the same setting He says, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”

Each of these passages points to preexistence of Christ. Meaning, He existed before His own birth. And He existed before His own creation of the world. An even broader statement though is that Christ is not only preexistent, but He is eternal. Which is testified to both in the Old and New Testaments. First, we see that in this statement from Micah who spoke prophetically of the One who would be born in Bethlehem, as “His goings forth being from everlasting.” “Olom,” we saw that last week, can mean either a long time or can mean from eternity.

Second, we have this statement from Isaiah which speaks to the eternality of Christ. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” We saw last time He’s eternally the Father to His people, the people of Israel. And then, third, there’s this simple yet powerful statement from the author of Hebrews concerning the eternality of Christ. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” That’s the eternality of Christ.

Next we have, The Omnipresence of Christ. And this one can be summarized rather succinctly. Which is as God, Christ is everywhere. And we see this from Scriptures from various different contexts. And these are contexts which may not initially make us think about the omnipresence of Christ. Because they have their own unique contexts. One of these is about church discipline and the other one is about the Great Commission. But in each, there’s this kernel of truth concerning Christ being omnipresent, everywhere at all times. This famously abused verse, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst,” Matthew 18:20. That’s in the context of church discipline. But note, He is present in the sense that we may not initially think Him present. Or Matthew 28:20, the Great Commission, “behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Then there is this simple statement from Paul in Colossians 3:11, “Christ is all and in all.” And then this one in Ephesians 1:23, Christ “fills all in all.”

Here’s our next one. The Omniscience of Christ. I recognize there’s not much room under your worksheet headings here. I apologize. I don’t know how to give you a bigger sheet of paper, maybe next time we can work on that. But here’s the omniscience of Christ, still under heading 1. The omniscience of Christ means as God He knows everything. Jesus’ disciples recognized this truth. John 16:30 says, “Now we know that You know all things,” they’re speaking of Jesus here, “and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” See what it says there, “You know all things.” John 21:17 it says that interaction between Jesus and Peter, it says “He said to him,” Jesus to Peter, “the third time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me? ’Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ And he said to Him, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.’” Omniscience. Paul recognized this truth, about the omniscience of Christ when he said in Him “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

And several other examples of Jesus’ omniscience are given in the Gospels. For instance, He knew the history of the Samaritan woman. She said “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; is this not the Christ?” He knew what was in man. John 2, “Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He had no need that anyone bear witness concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.” He knew the thoughts of man. Luke 6, “the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He’s healing on the Sabbath, so that they might find reasons to accuse Him. But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Get up and come forward!’ And he stood up and came forward.” Or Luke 11:16-17 says “others, testing Him, were seeking from Him a sign from heaven. But He knew their thoughts.” So, He knew the thoughts of men. Not only that, He knew the time and the manner about His departure from the world. Leading up to His crucifixion in His death. Matthew 16:21 says, “From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day.” He knew these things were going to happen. Or John 13, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” There’s more He knew. He knew the identity of the one who would betray Him. “Jesus answered them, ‘Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?’”

So, there is a smattering of examples of Scriptures highlighting the omniscience of Christ. Now, it is true that there are certain statements in Scripture that suggest on initial read, that Jesus had less than total omniscience. For instance, when Jesus said in referring to His second coming, these words. “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” I’m going to make you wait a couple of weeks for an answer on what was going on there, when we get into the humanity of Christ. So, stay tuned.

Next up. The Omnipotence of Christ. To say that Jesus is omnipotent is simply to say that He is unlimited in His power. To the extent that God the Father is omnipotent, God the Son is omnipotent. Which is why He could say things like this in John 5:19, “whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same manner.” Jesus, as God, is all-powerful. He’s almighty. He is omnipotent. Here’s Isaiah 9:6 again, “a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” Or Revelation 1:8, “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’”

And His omnipotence is shown in various different settings. Jesus’ power is shown in various different settings like Hebrews 1:3, “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His,” there’s our word, “power; who, having accomplished cleansing for sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” He has power over demons. As we see in the account in Mark chapter 5. “Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. And the demons pleaded with Him, saying, ‘Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.’ And Jesus gave them permission,” it’s a statement of power. “And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.”

He has power not only over demons, He has power over disease. Here’s the scene in Luke 4, “Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, they asked Him,” Jesus, “to help her. And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her.” He has power over death. Luke 7, “as He approached the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not cry.’ And He came up and touched the coffin, and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise!’ And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.” Or in Luke 8, “they were all crying and lamenting for her, but He said, ‘Stop crying, for she has not died, but is asleep.’ And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, ‘Child, arise!’ And her spirit returned, and she stood up immediately.” And of course, haven’t even mentioned John 11 the scene involving Lazarus. So he has power over death.

He also has power over creation. Part of it is omnipotence. “He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly, you men of little faith?’ Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. And the men marveled, and said, ‘What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?’” Or in Matthew 21, “And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, ‘No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.’ And at once the fig tree withered.” So he has power over creation. The natural realm.

And of course, speaking of Jesus’ omnipotence, He has power over the grave. That’s why we’re here. As Christians. With the eternal hope that we have. It’s all tied to Jesus’ power over the grave. Which is referenced here in John 2, “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.’ The Jews then said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this sanctuary, and will You raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking about the sanctuary of His body. So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.”

One more, He has power over every believer’s one-day transformation into their glorified condition. Here’s Philippians 3, “our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by His working through which He is able to even subject all things to Himself.” Every single one of those Scriptures I’ve just read off to you and running out of breath as I do so, testifies to the fact that Jesus is all-powerful. Christ is omnipotent.

Last, under this first heading we’re going to see The Incomprehensibility of Christ. What that means is that Christ is unable to be fully known to a finite human mind like ours. Now put another way finite man could never plunge the full depths of His being. Matthew 11:27, He says “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” But note that line there, “no one knows the Son except the Father.” No one knows the son in His depth of His being but God Himself. Or Ephesians 3, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that He would give you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being firmly rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” The love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.

Now, we can try. In this life though, our knowledge of Christ is necessarily limited. And it will be limited for even a follower of Christ to what he has revealed to us in the Word. But even then what we get out of the Word in terms of knowing who Christ is, is what God has chosen to give us. And even then its going to be partial. Especially when we try to limit it to an hour in one night. So, those are some of the metaphysical, non-shared attributes of Christ. Those are attributes of Christ which mirror those that are attributed to God the Father. Meaning He shares these perfectly in His essence ontologically with God the Father because He Himself is God.

Next, we’re going to work through some of the moral attributes of Christ. Which He possesses perfectly. And which He shares with His creatures, i.e., you and me. These are additional evidences that Christ, who has these attributes perfectly, is God. Here are some of those moral attributes. The Holiness of Christ. As with the holiness of God, the holiness of Christ refers to His separateness, His transcendence above all that is sinful. It also refers to His perfect moral purity. We see this attribute of Jesus alluded to in passages like Luke 1:35. We’ll look at this next week in the morning hour. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” Acts 3:14-15, “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.” Or 1 John 3:5, “And you know that He was manifested in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.” That’s the flip side of saying He is holy, is that He has no sin. He’s morally perfect.

Next is The Truth of Christ. Meaning, He always is and forever will be who He claims to be. And how He represents Himself. He’s never inconsistent with His own divine character. Then there’s the total absence of any trace of falsehood in Him. John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” But He is the truth. 1 John 5, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”

Next is The Love of Christ. By this, we mean simply His sacrificial self-giving for sinners like you and me. We were singing about this tonight. John 13:1, “Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” 1 John 3:16, “By this we have known love, that He laid down His life for us.” And of course, Romans 5:6, “while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” That’s a supreme act of divine love.

Next is The Faithfulness of Christ. This refers to Christ’s total and eternal commitment to God’s plan and purposes. And He’s referred to the faithful one in a couple of ways. Revelation 3:14, “the angel of the church in Laodicea write: This is what the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says.” That’s Christ speaking. Revelation 19:11, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sits on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.”

Last one under heading number 1 is The Mercy of Christ. Meaning, the compassion, the pity He has for sinners like you and I. Jude 20 and 21 testifies to the mercy of Christ. “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.” So in sum, Jesus possesses each of these attributes. Metaphysical and moral. Shared and non-shared. And they’re each proof of His deity. God has these attributes and possesses these attributes perfectly and if Jesus shares these attributes, which we’ve seen He does, then Jesus is God.

Here’s our second one. We’ve seen Christ’s divine attributes. Now were are going to look at CHRIST’S DIVINE ACTIONS. What we just looked at is who Jesus is. With this next one we’re going to look at what Jesus does. And what He has done and what He will do.

First, Jesus is the Creator. “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Colossians 1:16 “For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him.” So He’s the Creator. He’s also is the Upholder and the Sustainer of all things. Colossians 1:17 says, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Hebrews 1:3 says, speaks of him as “the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power.”

We also know that He forgave sins. That’s another function or another action of Christ. A divine action is that He forgave sins. Matthew 9, “behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven.’” Mark 2:5, “Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, ‘Child, your sins are forgiven.’” So He forgave sins.

He also granted eternal life. Isaiah 43:25 says, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” That’s carried over to Christ in various contexts including this one. John 10:27-28, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish - ever; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” So He forgives sins, He grants eternal life. These are all pointing to the reality that Jesus is God. Only God can do those things.

He strengthens the church. He does so by uniting believers to each other in Christ Jesus. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is no male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” He equips those in the church to serve in the body. “For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” And He sustains believers to serve Him in His church with grace. Philippians 4:23, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.”

Here's another one under the actions of Christ. He Answers Prayer. John 14:1, “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” The receiving, the hearing, the answering of prayer is a divine action. Stephen even in Acts 7:59 calls out to Jesus as he’s being stoned. “They went on stoning Stephen as he was calling out saying, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’”

He will raise the dead in the coming resurrection. In the future, all saints will be raised. They’ll be raised from decomposition as well as from death. They will be raised never more to die. And they will be raised by Jesus’ power. John 5, “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” So He’s playing a part in the resurrection, a future resurrection. John 11 testifies to this as well. “Jesus said to her,” this is the Lazarus account, ‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die - ever. Do you believe this?’”

The next action, divine action of Christ is that He will execute judgment. John 5, “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” He’ll execute judgment on believers at the Bema seat. That’s in 2 Corinthians 5. He’ll execute judgment on the nations. We see that in Matthew 25:31, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” Acts 17, “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He determined, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.” He’ll execute His judgment on the beast and his followers. “And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sits on the horse.” And He’ll execute judgment on Satan. Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

Alright. We’ve looked at Christ’s Divine Attributes. His Divine Actions. Next, we’re going to look at CHRIST’S DIVINE ASSOCIATION. And by this I mean that there are things said in the Old Testament of God, of Yahweh, which are later in the New Testament used with reference to Christ. So God is the first reference, but then in the New Testament Christ is referred to in a very similar manner or way. Which is further proof that Jesus is God. For instance, in the Old Testament, we have testimony that God is the Creator. Psalm 102, ‘O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days, Your years are from generation to all generations. Of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You will remain; And all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.” Now the same truth about being the creator is found in the New Testament. We covered a few verses already, but like Hebrews 1. “You, Lord, in the beginning founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands; they will perish, but you remain; and they all will wear out like a garment, and like a mantle You will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.”

We have the whole Isaiah 6 scene where we see the year of King Uzziah’s death. “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called out, while the house of God was filling with smoke.” Now when we get to John’s Gospel, the gospel of John, it is revealed that who Isaiah saw there was Christ. John 12:41, “These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory,” meaning Christ, “and he spoke about Him.” In the Old Testament you have God being spoken of, Isaiah 40:3, as being proceeded by a forerunner. “A voice is calling, ‘Prepare the way for Yahweh in the wilderness; make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” And then that same language is used in Matthew’s Gospel, of Christ. Matthew 3, “Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ For this is the one referred to by Isaiah the prophet, saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight!”’”

God in the Old Testament is described as disciplining His people by means of fiery serpents. Numbers 21:6, “So Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died.” Well, we’re warned in 1 Corinthians 10:9 not to put Christ to the test in a similar manner. “Nor let us put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.” God in the Old Testament is to be regarded over and over as holy. Isaiah 8, “It is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy.” So is Christ in the New. “And do not fear their fear, and do not be troubled, but sanctify,” that’s the same root word for holy, “sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” God in the Old Testament is viewed and is described as the ultimate object of one’s faith. “And it will be that everyone who calls on the name of Yahweh will be delivered.” Well, we get to the New Testament, so is Christ. Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Or Romans 10:13, “whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Or John 14:1, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God,” these are the words of Christ now, “believe also in Me.”

Now while we are on this topic of divine associations and things which are said of God the Father also being true of God the Son, of Christ, consider how Father, Son, and Spirit all play side by side with each other in the Great Commission. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” They’re mentioned side by side there as equals. Equal in divine authority. In deity. So they are in 2 Corinthians 13:14. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” So Christ and the Father are one. “I and the Father are one,” He says, meaning, of one substance of a singular essence. They’re not one person. They’re separate persons but they are singular divine essence. And they act together. John 14:23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.” 1 Thessalonians 3:11, “Now may our God and Father Himself and Jesus our Lord direct our way to you.” Or 2 Thessalonians 2:16 and 17, “Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.”

Whatever the Father has, Christ has. “All things that the Father has are Mine;” He says, “therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” “All things that are Mine are Yours,” this is Jesus praying to the Father, “and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.”

We’re through 3 points on our worksheet. You can now turn it over to side 2 where we’re going to cover the next 3. This would be CHRIST’S DIVINE APPELLATIONS. That’s number 4. That’s spelled this way by the way. Appellations as in names, titles, and metaphors used to describe Christ in Scripture. And each of these divine appellations as we’re going to see, sheds some light on His deity. The fact that He really is, Jesus really is God. We think of some of these metaphorical references that highlight His supernatural origin and divine nature of Christ. “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved.” “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.” “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.” So these metaphorical references to Christ being divine. Christ being God.

He also referred to Himself in other ways, Christ did, that affirmed His deity. That point to His Godness. Revelation 22:13, He calls himself “The Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Or here in Revelation 3:14, He’s “the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” Or one we’ve seen over and over already. “Before Abraham was, I am.” Here’s another name for Christ pointing to His deity. That will come from Isaiah 7:14. We worked through this very briefly this morning. But Isaiah 7:14. He’s Immanuel. He’s “God with us.” “The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” Which we know has been quoted by Matthew in Matthew 1:23.

He referred to Himself as the “Son of Man.” Not just Immanuel, but the Son of Man. Which, in context, typically pointed to His deity. For instance, it was as the Son of Man that Jesus said He had the authority to forgive sins. Matthew 9:6, “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” then He said to the paralytic, ‘Get up, pick up your bed and go home.’” It was as the Son of Man that He claimed the ability to be Lord over the Sabbath. “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” It was as Son of Man that He had the power to execute judgment. John 5:26, “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.” And it was as the Son of Man that Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many. Matthew 20, “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

It is as the Son of Man that He will send out His angels to wield judgment. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the fiery furnace.” And the Son of Man, the Gospels indicate, will sit upon the throne of his glory. “Truly, I say to you,” Matthew 19, “that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Or this one, Matthew 25, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.”

And it says the Son of Man, that Jesus will come again. Matthew 24, “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” Or Matthew 26, “Jesus said to him, ‘You yourself said it; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’” So Jesus indicating He’s the Son of Man is an indication again of His deity, His Godness.

Here’s another name, appellation, for Jesus that indicates His divinity. That would be the word “Lord.” The name Lord. The title Lord. “Kurios.” Now it’s doubtful whether everyone who ever called Jesus “Lord” intended in that moment to be referring to His deity. Cause that word “Kurios,” Lord, could also be referred to as, it could be like the common “hello sir” kind of reference. But there is no question that, on many occasions, that word “Lord” was intended to refer to Jesus’ deity. Like here in Luke 2, “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. Today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” “Thomas,” doubting Thomas, “answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” Acts 16:31, “they said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” 1 Corinthians 12:3, “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” And then Philippians 2, “at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” So Jesus being called Lord is often an indicator of his deity.

He's also called “Son of God.” So we’ve seen He is the Son of Man. He’s also the Son of God and the title “son” in Old Testament times, was used to identify one having the characteristics of that of which you were a son. So if you were a son of Joshua or son of David, you resemble in various ways Joshua or David. Meaning, “son of God” would refer to one who has the qualities or the characteristics of God. Now there’s only one instance where Jesus himself is recorded as referring to Himself as the Son of God. It’s in John 10:33. I’m going to skip that one for time sake. But it is often used of others, by others, to describe Jesus as being Son of God. For instance through the experience of the incarnation, He was called God’s Son. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.” “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” He was also called “Son” in the sense of being the Messiah, the anointed of God. “Nathanael answered Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.’” John 11:27, “I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, the One who comes into the world.”

And note, when others spoke of Him this way, as the Son of God, and this is important, Christ never attempted to correct them. Or to change the label. And say well, actually… No, He accepted, He acknowledged that He was the Son of God. And that in fact was what led to Him being accused of blasphemy. Here we have it. “The high priest said to Him, ‘I put You under oath by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You yourself said it; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his garments and said, ‘He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; what do you think?’ They answered and said, ‘He deserves death!’” Similar reference here in John 5, “For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” Or John 19, “The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be,” there it is, “the Son of God.” Another divine title.

Next one would be He is the “Logos,” the Word. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This title comes from the Old Testament concept of the “word” of God which was used to signify divine revelation. For instance, in the Old Testament the Word of God was involved in creation. “By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.” The Word of God was involved in Revelation. “Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ‘Before I formed you in the innermost parts I knew you, and before you came out from the womb I set you apart; I have given you as a prophet to the nations.’” The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah. Or “Then Yahweh sent forth His hand and touched my mouth, and said to me, ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.’” That’s an example of the Word of God being revelatory.

And then we also see like in Ezekiel here the Word of God pertaining to salvation in the Old Testament. “Then He said to me, ‘Prophesy over these bones and say to them, “O dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh.” Thus says Lord Yahweh to these bones, “Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh come upon you, cover you up with skin, and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am Yahweh.”’” And what’s really interesting is that when we get into John’s Gospel where Christ is often referred to as the Word, we see these references to Jesus as the Word being involved in Creation. Like here in John 1:10, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him.” In Revelation. Like in John 1:18, “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” And in salvation, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” So there’s this link between the Old Testament concept of the Logos, the Word of God, and in the New with Christ. “And the Word was God.”

Next one. Next appellation would be He is “The Holy One.” We’ve already seen this quoted elsewhere, but Peter in his speech on Solomon’s portico uses this title to describe Jesus, the Holy and Righteous One. Which is the exact title used to describe Yahweh. Israel’s God in Hosea 11:9, “I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst.” Again that’s another clear reference to Jesus’ deity.

Last one. And I sort of saved the best for last on this and by that I mean the clearest evidence of names of God being attached to Christ. And this is simply the fact that in the New Testament there are multiple references to Jesus just plainly being called “God.” So we’ve looked to the Son of Man, the Son of God, and the Word of the Lord, and so on and so on. But there are direct references in the New Testament to Jesus being called God. Like this. John 1:1, “and the Word was God.” John 1:18, “He is the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father.” John 20:28, Thomas again says, “My Lord and my God!” Titus 2:13 refers to “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Later tonight look up the grand old sharp rule of Greek grammar. It will explain to you that this is a reference to God. Hebrews 1:8, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” 2 Peter 1:1, “our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” 1 John 5:20, “in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” The “this” here is referring back to Jesus Christ. And then Romans 9:5, “who” is Christ, “who is God over all. Blessed forever.”

So we’ve seen His Attributes, His Actions, His Association, His Appellations, His Names. Now we get to our fifth point this evening. CHRIST’S DIVINE ADULATION. Meaning, another way the Scriptures testify to Jesus being God is that He is given, and receives, worship. Remember the Scriptures testify repeatedly that those who are not God, are not to be worshiped. And not to be an object of our devotion. This long quote here tells us that angels are not to be worshiped. That long quote (I’m not going to read anymore) tells us that apostles are not to be worshiped. Peter here is declining worship by Cornelius. Paul was telling the people here in Acts 14 they were not to worship him. People, apostles, are not to be worshiped. And of course, lesson learned here by King Herod is that kings and government rulers, government leaders, are not to be worshipped because when they seek worship and don’t give God the glory, as we see at the end of Acts 12:23 here, they’re eaten by worms and breathe their last. So there’s these examples in Scripture of mere humans receiving worship and not giving God glory through it and they face the consequences. Only God is the proper object of adoration, adulation and worship.

Deuteronomy 6:13, “Yahweh your God you shall fear; and Him you shall serve; and by His name you shall swear.” Exodus 34:14, “you shall not worship any other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” Or in the scene of Jesus’ temptation by the devil, in Matthew 4. It says, “Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.’” But look at Jesus’ response. He “said to him, ‘Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” Now what that means is that if Jesus were to accept worship from others, as He does, that would mean that He is God. And that’s exactly what the Scriptures testify to and point to. Worship is continually directed toward Jesus. Worship is received and accepted by Jesus. Matthew 14:33, “those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are truly God’s Son!’” Matthew 28, “But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. And when they saw Him, they worshiped Him.” Luke 5:8, “when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’” Hebrews 1:6, “And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says, ‘And let all the angels of God worship Him.’”

And note this, the Scriptures indicate not only that Jesus accepts worship, but He demands it. Jesus told the Jewish leadership, in John 5:23, that if they were to refuse to honor Him, they would simultaneously be refusing to honor God. “He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” And last on this point, the Scriptures not only teach us that Christ was worshiped, and that He received worship, then He accepted worship, and that He demanded worship, but the Scriptures also teach us that we should worship Christ. Consider some of these doxologies from the New Testament and how each points us to the worship that Christ is due. Hebrews 13, “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Or 1 Peter 4, “so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever. Amen.” 2 Peter 3:18, “but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” So the fact that Christ is worshiped, the fact that He receives divine adulation, is further evidence that He is God.

And this is our last one for the evening and this will be quick, number 6. CHRIST’S DIVINE AUTHORITY. We’ve already seen various aspects in this race through study tonight of Christ’s authority. We’ve seen His authority over creation, for instance. Even the wind and the waves obeyed Him, for example. But here, as we wind down, I want to highlight two major spheres over which Christ is said to possess authority. Both of which would be spheres that ultimately only God would have such a right over these spheres. First, is that Christ claimed authority over the whole Israelite system of religion. The law of Moses. Its various outworkings. He said in Matthew 12:6, “But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here.” The hub of worship for the people of Israel. The very place where God was said to be present. He said something greater than the temple is here. That’s a statement of deity. He declared that He was Lord of the Sabbath. “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” He also declared that He had authority over the various Jewish traditions which had developed throughout the years, leading to those many statements in the Sermon on the Mount. Where He says, “you have said, but I say.” And none of those, by the way, where he states His authority over Jewish religion, went unnoticed by those whom He encountered during His earthly ministry. Matthew 7 says, “Now it happened that when Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were astonished at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one as having authority, not as their scribes.”

So I mentioned there are 2 main spheres, major spheres over which Jesus has authority. One would be Jewish religion and practices. The other would be in our day, His authority over the church. Ephesians 5:23, “Christ also is the head of the church.” Colossians 1:18, “And He is the head of the body, the church.” He is the head of all. He is the Ruler over all. He has authority over all. “All authority,” He says, Matthew 28:18, “has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

So there we have it. CHRIST’S DIVINE ATTRIBUTES, HIS DIVINE ACTIONS, HIS DIVINE ASSOCIATION, HIS DIVINE APPELLATIONS, HIS DIVINE ADULATION and HIS DIVINE AUTHORITY. Each pointing unequivocally and biblically to the fact that Jesus is God. I’m going to close with three brief quotes. And then we’ll be done. Here’s John Witmer again. And I sited him earlier. He says, “When a person honestly and without liberal presupposition faces the evidence of Scripture, he or she cannot fail to conclude that Jesus knew Himself to be the incarnate Son of God and claimed that identity.” Horace Bushnell says, “The character of Jesus Christ forbids His possible classification with men,” refuting some of the earlier quotes I said, I quoted earlier. And this last one, William Biederwolf, “A man who can read the New Testament and not see that Christ claims to be more than a man, can look all over the sky at high noon on a cloudless day and not see the sun.” Amen. Jesus is God.

Let’s pray. God, thank You for this different pace that which we went tonight. This different type of study that we have engaged in tonight. All pointing to the truth and the reality that Your Son, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is God. God, I pray that we wouldn’t be taken out to sea by all the various false teachings and doctrines of demons that are out there today. Which would portray Christ to something lesser than God or someone lesser than God. May we cling to and remember as we go through this mountain of biblical evidence, the truth that Jesus our Lord is the very Son of God. The eternal Son of God. God incased in human flesh. May that increase and elevate our worship of Christ. May it spurn us a greater desire to go out and share Christ with others. And God, I pray that through this study, again, we just wouldn’t just bottle it up and store it up. That we would share it with others so that more can come to know Christ, the Savior and Lord, and enjoy worshiping Him forever in glory. It’s in His name we pray. Amen.